Microsoft Looks Set to Allow Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant on The Xbox One

In what could prove to be the clearest sign yet that the personal assistant race is coming down to two horses, Microsoft appears to be set to allow both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant on the Xbox One. The news, along with a supporting screenshot, came from the team over at Windows Central and points to users having the option to leverage the personal assistant of their choice on their Xbox One for controlling the device from their phone.

The news of this falls in line with other news that Microsoft is fundamentally shifting Cortana, their digital assistant, away from the consumer market and more toward the productivity side of things and not necessarily a personal assistant. It appears that Microsoft is conceding to Alexa and Google Assistant.

The reality is, allowing Alexa or Assistant on the Xbox One makes sense. People are using those personal assistants anyway across their phones and home devices like the Amazon Echo or Google Home. By allowing consumers to use the assistant of their choice, they would be able to control their Xbox One in a way that has more-or-less not been an option since the demise of the Kinect hardware.

Digital Assistants on the Xbox One

For now, this still remains a rumor. Microsoft has not enabled this functionality but sources for Windows Central seem to indicate that this a sooner rather than later change that will be coming to the platform.